Compensating heel for boots of shoes.



3 0 9 1 1 3 R A M D E T N Ev m A P T Tu B N Y W R x O 5 A: v2 7 m GOMPBNSATING HEEL FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. 1902.

no MODEL.

VENTOR.

WITNESSES.-

NURRIS vzrsns m. vuaroummwuumuwu p c UNITED STATES:

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT WYNELL, on SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

COMPENSATING HEEL FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 724,150, dated March 31, 1903-.

Application filed December 5, 1902. Serial No. 133,951. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern).-

Be it known that I, ROBERT WYNELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Compensating Heels for Boots or Shoes; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an attachment for boot and shoe heels which is designed to compensate for the wear which ordinarily takes place upon these parts and to keep them constantly in proper shape for walking.

It consists of a flanged cup fitting arhole made in the heel of the shoe and preferably nearer to the side upon which the wear takes place. Within this cup is fitted the Wearpiece, which projects slightly, so as to receive the impact of walking, and this wear-piece may be extended as fast as it is worn away by the use of interior filling-pieces or washers,

which rest upon the interior bottom of the cup.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a bootheel, showing myinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan showing the cup-flange as an extended plate.

In the use of boots andishoes and like footwear the majority of people either Wear the heels upon the outer or inner sides, so that the shoes in time become twisted and run over and are rapidly worn out and rendered unsightly. It is the object of my invention to provide a means compensating for this wear.

It consists, essentially, of a wear piece or block A,made of any suitable or desired shape, and a cup of similar shape adapted to receive the wear-piece and to relieve the heel of the wear from the pressure of said piece.

The cup 2 may be made, as before stated, of any shape or size to fit' the corresponding shape or size of the wear-piece A. In the present case I have shown the cup as cylindrical, and it may be stamped or pressed out of sheet metal and has a bottom 3 and a peripheral exteriorfiange 4. A hole is made in the heel 5 of the shoe of sufficient diameter to receive this cup, and the flange of the cup is secured to the outside of the heel, into .surface of the heel.

which it may be slightly countersunk, if de sired.

The wear-piece A may be made of wood, rubber, fiber, or any material suitable for the purpose and may be made a little longer than the depth of the cup, so that when the inner end rests upon the bottom of the cup the outer end will projectslightly beyond the The bottom of the cup thus receives the pressure transmitted through the wear-piece and prevents any pressure upon the heel 'of the wearer which would otherwise take place by reason of the thickness-of material between the wear-piece and the heel being insufficient to prevent the transmission of pressure or the jars of walking. The exterior flange being fixed and supported upon the outside of the heel and the wearpiece resting upon the bottom of the cup is thus practically suspended from the outside of the heel and exerts noinjurious or uncomfortable pressure upon the foot. This cup and the wear-piece are preferably placed near the back of the heel and nearer to the side upon which the wear takes place. Thus if a person naturally wears the heel off upon the outside the wear-piece would be placed nearer to that side and in such position that in step ping the first impact of the foot would be received upon this wear-piece, thus almost or quite preventing the wear upon the outer edge of the heel. If the wear takes place upon the inside of the heel, the wear-piece should be correspondingly set toward the inside, with like results.

When the wear-piece has been Worn down, so that the impact of walking commences to strike the heel proper, the wear-piece can be withdrawn from the cup or socket and a washer or filling-piece 6 inserted, after which the Wear-piece can be reintroduced, and its end will again project suffioiently for the desired purpose. In this way by introducing more or thicker washers as the wear takes place the wear-piece can be used until there is not enough of it'left to be properly retained in the cup, after which the washers being removed a new wear-piece can be inserted, and the heel is thus indefinitely protected.

The interior diameter of the cup and its IOO shape are so proportioned to the exterior diaineter of the wear-piece that the latter will be retained in place by frictional contact with the interior of the cup, and this will ordinarilybe sufficientif the cup is of approximately the same diameter from end to end; but in order to insure the wear-piece not falling out or being withdrawn from the cup, I have shown the latter slightly thickened around the interior periphery of the outer end, as shown at 7, and this thickened portion is preferably rounded, so as not to present any edge to out the wear-piece In this manner the wear-piece will be held' sufficiently strongly in place without any fastenings or other attachment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a boot or shoe heel of a wear-piece, a cup fitting into a corresponding opening in the heel and adapted to receive said Wear piece, said cup having smooth interior walls and an inner socket of about the diameter of the wear-piece Whereby the latter engages said walls by frictional contact, and said cup having an outwardlyextending base by which it is secured to the heel and an inner bottom against which the wear-piece rests.

2. The combination with a boot or shoe heel having an opening made adjacent to the point of wear of a cup having smooth interior walls and an exterior flange by which it is secured to the periphery of the hole, an interior integral bottom, a wear-piece fitting said cup and washers or filling-pieces interposed between said bottom and the end of the wearpiece by which the outer end of the wearpiece is projected beyond the heel and wear compensated for. i

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ROBERT WYNELL.

Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, JESSIE G. BRODIE. 

